2 days ago

Seven activists whose Gaza-bound aid flotilla was intercepted in international waters by Israeli forces have returned to the UK after being deported.

They were among more than 422 people involved in the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which aimed to break the maritime blockade of Gaza and deliver food and medical aid.

The group, who arrived at at London Stansted on Saturday via Turkey, told the BBC they witnessed people being "systematically tortured and abused over two days" on Israeli vessels and in prison.

The Israeli military previously rejected similar allegations, telling the BBC that its orders "require respectful and appropriate treatment of flotilla participants".

More than 50 boats taking part in the GSF set sail from Turkey last Thursday carrying a token amount of aid.

Israel's government dismissed the action as a "PR stunt" serving the Palestinian armed group Hamas, and ordered commandos to board the boats west of Cyprus on Monday and Tuesday.

The detained activists were transferred to Israeli vessels and taken to an Israeli prison after arriving at the port of Ashdod.

The flotilla's organisers alleged there were "at least 15 cases of sexual assaults", while other people who were detained said they were beaten and mistreated.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the allegations. Israel's prison service has dismissed them as false, saying all detainees were "held in accordance with the law".

Katy Davidson, 49, from Cornwall arrived in London in a grey tracksuit which she said she was made to wear after their belongings were thrown away.

She said: "These marks are from the handcuffs. When I asked them to loosen them they said they didn't care. They didn't care about human rights, or whether I lost my hand.

"When I actually got my hands through to have them adjusted they actually tightened them and laughed."

Hannah Schafer, a 62-year-old sailing instructor, said the aim was to open the humanitarian corridor to Gaza.

She said participants in the flotilla were taken onto "two prison ships".

Schafer alleges flotilla members were "systematically tortured and abused over two days".

Israeli authorities have said there was little humanitarian aid onboard the flotilla and it was a PR stunt.

Documentary film maker Dáša Raimanová, 44, said there were moments she thought she'd never see her daughter again but that what they faced was "nothing compared to the people of Palestine".

"It's not a PR stunt it's raising awareness and mobilising together that as civil society we have power to do something when governments are ignoring genocide," she said.

Elliott Roberts, 34, who lives in both Lincoln and Torquay, claimed the vessel he was on was fired at.

"I was taken into a small tent straight off the boat, two soldiers were crouched down ready for me to enter, they lifted me up turned me over and smashed me into the ground and now I think I've got a broken spine," he said.

He claimed he was denied medical treatment.

Israeli authorities have denied forces sexually assaulted and seriously abused people from the flotilla.

In an earlier statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: "IDF orders require respectful and appropriate treatment of flotilla participants on the intercepted vessels, and there are clear and established procedures in this regard.

"No specific incidents of deviation from these binding procedures are known within the IDF. Any concrete complaints submitted to the IDF on the matter will be examined thoroughly."